Magnesium Hydrogen Phosphate: An Efficient Catalyst for Acrylic Acid Production from Biorenewable Lactic Acid.

A series of Magnesium hydrogen phosphate (MgHP) catalysts with different magnesium to phosphorous (Mg/P) mole ratios at varying calcination temperatures has been synthesised, bearing in mind the effectiveness as well as the stability of MgHP to catalyse acrylic acid (AA) production from biorenewable lactic acid (LA), a synthetic process applicable to biomass conversion. The physicochemical properties of the MgHP catalysts have been thoroughly characterised and the formation of Mg(NH₄)PO₄, MgHPO₄ and Mg₂P₂O with different structural and acidic properties have been reported. The high catalytic performance of MgHP catalysts with high AA yields (100% conversion and 85% selectivity) at high space velocities (WHSV = 3.